Matthijs de Ligt salvaged a 2-2 draw for Manchester United at Tottenham in a frantic finale as both sides missed the chance to go second in the Premier League on Saturday.
Spurs looked to have secured a dramatic victory, having trailed with six minutes to go, as Mathys Tel equalised before Richarlison headed home in the 91st minute.
However, De Ligt powered in a 96th-minute header to extend United’s unbeaten run to five games.
Both sides move onto 18 points from 11 games, but goal difference separates Spurs in third from United in seventh.
The Red Devils have now failed to beat Spurs in their previous eight meetings, but it was the most recent of which that will live long in the memory of the Tottenham support.
Spurs ended their 17-year trophy drought thanks to a scrappy 1-0 win in the Europa League final in May, which also took them into the Champions League, while United missed out on European football altogether.
Despite the huge blow to United’s finances and prestige, Ruben Amorim is making the most of having more time on the training field to finally build some momentum after a tough first year at Old Trafford.
Unlike most of United’s big money signings in recent years, Bryan Mbeumo has proved his worth since a £65 million ($86 million) move from Brentford in July.
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The Cameroonian was named Premier League player of the month for October and took his tally to four goals in as many games when he headed in from Amad Diallo’s cross on 32 minutes.
Spurs were booed off after a woeful attacking display in losing a London derby 1-0 to Chelsea last weekend.
After another dreary first 45 minutes, the hosts came to life early in the second period.
Senne Lammens produced a brilliant stop to turn Cristian Romero’s flick behind.
The Belgian goalkeeper was quickly called into action again to parry Joao Palhinha’s effort.
Brennan Johnston, who scored the winner when the sides last met in Bilbao, was then denied an equaliser by the offside flag.
Tottenham’s burst of attacking threat quickly fizzled out, though, and discontent among the home fans with manager Thomas Frank showed when his decision to replace Xavi Simons was roundly booed.
However, the Spurs boss can claim his changes turned the game around.
Destiny Udogie crossed for fellow substitute Tel to turn and fire into the top corner via a deflection off De Ligt.
Wilson Odobert, introduced off the bench at half-time, then curled a shot towards the far corner that Richarlison flicked in to leave Lammens helpless.
The Brazilian tore off his shirt and was reduced to tears in his celebration.
Yet, it still was not enough to earn Tottenham a first home league win since the opening weekend of the season.
De Ligt was offered too much space at the back post from Bruno Fernandes’ corner, and his header was too powerful for Guglielmo Vicario.
This week, Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani made history by becoming the first Muslim mayor of New York City. His road to victory was anything but smooth. After he secured a historic win in the mayoral primary, he faced a landslide of attacks from across the political spectrum. In the months that followed, the hateful rhetoric from right-wing provocateurs, social media personalities, and even his three opponents mushroomed.
Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa claimed that Mamdani supports “global jihad”; independent candidate and former New York governor Andrew Cuomo agreed with a comment that Mamdani would celebrate “another 9/11”; and outgoing NYC mayor, Eric Adams, who dropped out and endorsed Cuomo, suggested that a Mamdani mayorship would turn New York into Europe, where “Islamic extremists … are destroying communities.”
Sadly, as researchers of anti-Muslim bias, and Muslim individuals who came of age in a post-9/11 America, we know attacks of this nature – on someone’s character or fitness for a job because of their religious background or national origin – aren’t entirely unexpected. We know that Islamophobia spikes not after a violent act, but rather during election campaigns and political events, when anti-Muslim rhetoric is used as a political tactic to garner support for a specific candidate or policy.
Worryingly, these attacks also reflect a general trend of rising Islamophobia, which our research has recently uncovered. The latest edition of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding’s (ISPU) American Muslim Poll, which contains our Islamophobia Index, released on October 21, reveals that in the last three years, Islamophobia has sharply risen in the US, across almost all demographic groups.
Among the general population in the US, on our 1 to 100 scale, the index increased from a score of 25 in 2022 to a score of 33 in 2025. This jump was most pronounced among white Evangelicals, whose score increased from 30 to 45 between 2022 and 2025, and Catholics, whose score increased from 28 to 40 during the same period. Protestants also saw a rise of 7 points, from 23 in 2022 to 30 in 2025. Jews had an Islamophobia score of 17 in 2022, the lowest of any group that year, which increased only slightly to 19 in 2025, the same score as Muslims in 2025. The only group that did not change since 2022 is the non-affiliated.
Undoubtedly, the weaponisation of Islamophobia by high-profile individuals is a major driver of this worrying trend. And it can lead to devastating outcomes for Muslims: From job loss and inability to freely worship, to religious-based bullying of Muslim children in public schools and discrimination in public settings, to even physical violence. Simply put, dangerous rhetoric can have dangerous consequences.
Much of this Islamophobic rhetoric relies on five common stereotypes about Muslims, which we used in putting together our index: That they condone violence, discriminate against women, are hostile to the US, are less civilised, and are complicit in acts of violence committed by Muslims elsewhere. We then surveyed a nationally representative sample, including 2,486 Americans, to identify the extent to which they believed in these tropes.
More Americans are embracing these stereotypes about Muslims, even though they are easily disproved.
For example, despite popular media portrayals of Muslims as more prone to violence or as being complicit in violence perpetrated by Muslims elsewhere in the world, ISPU research shows American Muslims overwhelmingly reject violence. They are more likely than the general public to reject violence carried out by the military against civilians and are as likely to reject individual actors targeting civilians.
The popular stereotype that Muslim communities discriminate against their women also does not hold water. The fact is that Muslim women face more racial and religious discrimination than they do gender discrimination, which all women, Muslim or not, report at equal levels in the United States. The vast majority (99 percent) of Muslim women who wear hijab say they do so out of personal devotion and choice – not coercion. And Muslim women report that their faith is a source of pride and happiness.
Our research also disproves the belief that most Muslims living in the US are hostile to the country. We have found that Muslims with strong religious identities are more likely than those with weaker ones to hold a strong American identity. It also shows that Muslims participate in public life from the local to the national level through civic engagement, working with neighbours to solve community problems, and contributing during times of national crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Flint water crisis.
The trope that most Muslims living in the US are less “civilised” than other people has no factual basis, as well. The use of the “civilised/uncivilised” dichotomy strips individuals of their human dignity and separates people into a false, ethnocentric hierarchy on the basis of race or religion. Accusing a group of being less civilised than another is a frequently used dehumanising tactic. Dehumanisation, defined by Genocide Watch as when one group denies the humanity of the other group, is a step on the path to genocide.
We have seen all of these tropes activated in the past few weeks to launch Islamophobic attacks on Mamdani. We have also seen too many of our politicians and public figures use them comfortably in their public speech, placing an entire faith community in harm’s way. As Mamdani said in a speech addressing the Islamophobic attacks by his fellow candidates, “In an era of ever-diminishing bipartisanship, it seems that Islamophobia has emerged as one of the few areas of agreement.”
But Islamophobia isn’t just bad for Muslims – it undermines our democracy and constitutional freedoms. Research has linked belief in these anti-Muslim tropes to greater tolerance for anti-democratic policies. People who embrace Islamophobic beliefs are more likely to agree to limiting democratic freedoms when the country is under threat (suspending checks and balances, limiting freedom of the press), condone military and individual attacks on civilians (a war crime under the Geneva Convention), and approve of discriminatory policies targeting Muslims (banning Muslims, surveilling mosques, and even restricting the ability to vote).
Weaponising Islamophobia in political speech may be perceived as a winning strategy to rally support, but communities where it is deployed end up losing. That is why such practices must be challenged. Confronting and denouncing hate means preserving democracy and human dignity. Perhaps the election of Mamdani will signal a real shift away from this political strategy. As the mayor-elect said in his acceptance speech, “No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris extended his championship lead to nine points as he won the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race while team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri crashed out.
Piastri lost control through Turn Three on lap six of the race and spun into the barriers, the latest in a series of blows to the Australian’s title chances.
The race was stopped after both Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto crashed in the same place, fortunately neither hitting Piastri’s car or each other.
The race ended just after Gabriel Bortoleto had a high-speed crash in his Sauber at the end of the pit straight.
Bortoleto was trying to pass Williams’ Alex Albon but appeared to hit a wet patch on the track as he braked. He smashed into the inside wall and then spun wildly across the track into the barriers on the outside. He said over team radio that he was unhurt.
Behind Verstappen, who is now 39 points behind Norris in the championship, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finally managed to pass Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso with two laps to go after stalwart defence from the veteran Spaniard.
But Alonso managed to hold off Leclerc’s team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take sixth, as Hamilton and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took the final points.
Piastri left to rue another mistake
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Despite overnight rain, the track, though damp, was dry enough for slick tyres at the start and Norris led Antonelli and Piastri away in grid order, while Verstappen moved up to fifth ahead of Alonso and behind Russell.
Piastri’s crash came as he hooked his inside wheel over the kerb at Turn Three, which immediately pitched his car into a spin and into the barriers.
He sat in the car with his fingers inside his visor as he rued the likely damage to his title hopes.
“Just trying to put this behind (me),” Piastri said. “There is a lot more points on offer tomorrow, so the better job I can do to get myself a good starting spot, the better it will be.”
It was his fifth major mistake in as many races after a crash-strewn outing in Baku in September, and a collision at the start of the sprint race in Austin three weeks ago.
Since Piastri won the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, Norris has made up 43 points on his team-mate in five weekends and a sprint race and has strong momentum in the championship.
Although there were yellow flags waving, both Hulkenberg and Colapinto made the same mistake, each hitting the barrier a little earlier than the car before had done.
For the restart, Norris and Alonso switched to soft tyres while the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers and Verstappen went for mediums.
The mediums were the better choice – Norris came under pressure from Antonelli in the closing laps but was able to fend him off.
John Higgins rolled back the years in a 9-2 victory over fellow Scot Stephen Maguire to reach the final of the International Championship in China.
The 50-year-old put in a vintage performance to set up a meeting with home hope Wu Yize in Sunday’s showpiece.
Higgins won the first six frames of the day before sealing victory with the first three of the evening session.
Four-time world champion Higgins is now hoping to use all his experience against 22-year-old Wu as he bids to claim a third ranking title of the year.
“Wu is going to be on the crest of a wave, but I’m hoping he finds the nerves tomorrow because it is his first final in China,” said Higgins about his fellow finalist, who beat world champion Zhao Xintong in the first semi-final in Nanjing.
Higgins ended a four-year wait for a ranking title with victory in the World Open in March, and followed that up in April by winning the Tour Championship.
“It was pivotal to win the World Open,” Higgins told World Snooker. “It gave me that bit of self-belief in my game. It doesn’t matter who you are, when you start losing that self-belief the game becomes so difficult.”
The world number six showed all that belief as he raced into a 6-0 lead over Maguire, firing in century breaks of 101 and 137.
And after losing the final two frames of the opening session, he bounced back to reel off the three he needed to close out victory, including runs of 93 and 64.
Football pundit Eni Aluko said she was “glad justice has been served” after former England player Joey Barton was found guilty of sending “grossly offensive” social media posts aimed at her and other broadcasters.
In early 2024, Barton compared Aluko and commentator Lucy Ward to serial killers Fred and Rose West, and called Jeremy Vine a “bike nonce”.
Prosecutors told Liverpool Crown Court Barton had “crossed the line between free speech and a crime”.
She added: “This is a reminder that actions online do not come without consequences.
“The messages directed at me, Lucy Ward and Jeremy Vine by Joey Barton were deeply distressing and had a real damaging impact on my life and career.
“I am glad that justice has been served.”
Jurors convicted former Manchester City, Newcastle and QPR midfielder Barton, 43, of six counts of sending grossly offensive social media posts and cleared him of six others.
PA Media
After the guilty verdicts, Ward – who told the trial that Barton’s posts felt like “continuous harassment” – issued an Instagram post in which she wrote: “Freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences.
“It’s been an extremely difficult and sometimes harrowing last two years.”
The pundits had been working on ITV’s coverage of an FA Cup tie in January 2024 when Barton suggested they were the “Fred and Rose West of football commentary”.
PA Media
Barton also posted that Aluko was in the “Joseph Stalin/Pol Pot category”, saying she had “murdered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of football fans’ ears”.
Jurors found him not guilty on the comparison to the 20th Century dictators and the Wests, but ruled the superimposed image was grossly offensive.
Barton, originally from Huyton in Merseyside, was also convicted over a post in which he claimed Aluko was “only there to tick boxes” as he criticised diversity schemes.
His post said her input was “all off the back of the BLM [Black Lives Matter]/George Floyd nonsense”, referring to the 2020 killing of a black man by US police.
Barton, who has 2.6 million followers on X, claimed his posts about Vine were merely “crude banter” and that in using the phrase “bike nonce” he had never intended to imply the radio presenter was a paedophile.
Strictly’s Vicky Pattison and Kai Widdrington have had quite the journey already. Here they open up about their special bond, Kai’s bromance’ with Vicky’s hubby and her big plans for next year
We’ve watched Vicky Pattison go from a self-confessed nervous wreck to offering up some fabulously assured dance routines on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing. And her pro partner Kai Widdrington – the caring, perfectly measured match to Vicky’s sparky energy – tells us he truly believes she “has the tools to go all the way”.
He clearly feels like he’s won already as he calls warm, straight-talking Vicky “the beating heart of the celeb group this year” during their glamorous OK! shoot.
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It’s already been quite a journey. Vicky, 37, who married businessman Ercan Ramadan last August, has battled severe anxiety since stepping out onto the fabled dance floor. But she happily tells us she’s “turning a corner” – and she hopes she’ll inspire others to be a bit braver.
She admits with a giggle that she could have been doing something very different with her Saturday nights this year (clue: it involves nappy changes). “At the start of this year, I said to Ercan, I’m either gonna do Strictly , a second series of Honesty Box or we’re going to have a baby. When I got the call for Strictly he was over the moon,” she laughs.
While readily admitting they’ve had less quality time together since she joined the Strictly juggernaut, seeing how caring he’s been while she juggles it all, has convinced Vicky he’ll make an amazing dad.
“So yes, kids are definitely on the cards next year. I think he’s looking forward to it now. He probably thinks I’ll be at home a bit more, which he’s thrilled about,” she says.
She recently admitted that Sundays at home with hubby are “sacred” to her right now. So how is she coping being away from Ercan and their two beloved pooches? “Going home to Ercan and the dogs, I’m so grateful for that,” she says. “I can snap out of whatever steps are flying around in my head and be with my family. I need that moment.”
Ercan recently flew to see his family in Cyprus for a week – the only time he’s missed seeing her perform live – and his absence hit her hard. “I told him to go. I said, ‘All I’m doing is coming home and whining that I’m tired, then I go to bed.’ But the minute he left, I realised how much I missed him and needed him. He’s my anchor and he spoils me rotten.
“He wakes me up every morning with my electrolytes, my collagen, ready to go to Strictly school. He texts about what I want for dinner and he’s being the best dog dad. There’s a real sense of role reversal, in the traditional sense, right now. It’s progressive and it takes a special man to do that.”
Southampton-born Kai, who started dancing at the age of nine, the same year Strictly first aired on telly, has struck up a lovely bond with Vicky’s other half, too. Apparently they spend most of their time talking about football, alongside Ercan’s lookalike brother. “Kai and Ercan have a little bromance going,” Vicky tells us. “He’s gone down a storm with my family and friends and I love his gorgeous girlfriend Chloe.”
They even talked about going on a double date – before realising it would be nigh on impossible with a brand new dance to learn every week. “We were so full of it at the start of this process,” Vicky admits. “A double-date, what?! Nobody’s got time for that!”
Kai admits he had zero preconceptions about former Heart Radio presenter Vicky before they met, other than knowing she was a total novice at dancing. He is visibly delighted by how much she’s progressed. “If I’d shown her what she’s achieved in our most recent dances, she wouldn’t have believed it. But why stop now? We might as well go the whole way,” he says confidently.
Vicky agrees, saying it’s “mindblowing” when she recalls how she struggled to even clap on time during the first group dance. Since then, she’s performed a beautiful American Smooth, the Couple’s Choice dance to Cheryl Cole’s Fight For This Love and even the notoriously tricky samba.
“Oh man, the samba. If you’d told me seven weeks ago I’d love that dance, I’d have called you a liar. Yet here I am. A big, samba-loving Geordie,” she laughs.
The fact that Cheryl – who she’s idolised since she was a teenager – sent her a personal message of support is something she’s still coming to terms with. “That was one of the best moments of my life. I might only top it when I have my first kid,” she says.
Vicky remembers Cheryl once walking into the clothes shop where she used to work on Saturdays in Newcastle. “She came in with a little black top and a baseball cap on, the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen and dead polite. She said, ‘Have you got this in an extra small?’ and we ran away looking for it. But the minute she left, we lost our minds! I met her after I did the jungle too – she’s so sweet and humble.”
Throughout our chat, it’s clear what a lovely synergy Vicky and Kai have. “He sussed out early doors how to get the best out of me,” she says. “I’ll work hard, but I need my little breaks, a bit of craic. Outside of this incredible experience I’m just a human being, trying my best.”
She hopes the two of them will be friends for life. “Kai’s got really good previous, to be fair. He just went to Angela Rippon ’s 81st birthday. Maybe he’ll be at my 81st birthday party too. I don’t feel like it’s far off, the way my body’s feeling at the minute,” she jokes.
And Kai, who’s been a pro on the show for five years, explains that after two months of dancing together he knows what makes Vicky tick. “I know what to say, what not to say, when to give her space. And unlike her, I’m never worried. She always pulls it out of the bag.”
She’s certainly come a long way since the start of her Strictly journey. Despite being a mega-fan whose dream for years was to do the show one day, even she was shocked by how crippling her anxiety was ahead of her first performance.
“It was such a huge step out of my comfort zone. That’s a very scary place to be,” she admits. “I’m an open book, so I don’t regret being so transparent about how tough it was. But I was really shocked at how all-consuming it was at first. I’d be visibly shaking and… yeah, there were a lot of tears.”
She admits to being a “nervous girlie” and says her anxiety is getting worse the older she gets. “When you’re younger, you’re completely fearless. I’m definitely not any more. I’m afraid of almost everything.”
But she’s ready to change the narrative, she says. “Maybe watching me do this, though I’m really scared, will give people faith that they can do amazing things if they go outside their comfort zone, you know?
“And Kai does this lovely thing – he turns to me before we go out on the dance floor and says, ‘We’re just dancing. Just me and you – just dance with me.’ It’s so powerful and so lovely. The outside noise just drifts away.”
Kai has never seen anyone quite like Vicky when it comes to sharing the other celebs’ triumphs.
He says, “Sometimes, watching the others, you’re aware it’s a competition and seeing a couple smash a dance, you’re happy but there might be mixed feelings. I’ve never seen someone as genuinely happy for others doing well as Vicky. Every other celeb this year would say that, I think. But she’s so good at making other people feel better, she sometimes forgets about herself.”
Vicky admits the other celebrities already feel like family, and says each elimination is “a heartache”. “We’ve all got a special bond, but my favourite people are George [Clarke], Bavinder [Sopal] and La Voix. I really miss Chris Robshaw, he was like my big brother. Lewis [Cope] is a lovely lad, and I love his girlfriend. And Caz [Karen Carney] is always checking in.”
Vicky also credits her bestie Pete Wicks for being her rock. Pete reached the semi-final of Strictly last year with Jowita Przystal. “He’s been my biggest cheerleader,” Vicky says. “He’s been to see us twice and he calls me every show day to check in.”
Vicky and Kai’s series is already proving to be a historic one, as Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman made the bombshell announcement that this will be their last outing as hosts. How do they feel about it?
“The pair of them have done so much for women in television,” Vicky says. “ Strictly will continue to be this sparkly piece of TV that brings joy to millions, but it is the end of an era. They deserve a chance to enjoy their Saturday nights though.”
Her own stint on Strictly is far from over, but taking part makes Vicky feel like the sky’s the limit. “Every time I do something, whether it’s eating kangaroo balls in the jungle or being thrown out of a helicopter on Celeb SAS , I’m scared,” she says. “But coming out the other side, you feel incredible. If I can dance on Strictly , there’s nothing I can’t do.”
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Strictly Come Dancing continues on ITV on Saturday at 6.25pm
